Three weeks ago (ish), I got my container-style vegie garden started. It's doing great! I've planted (in two increments, now) bush green beans, spinach, napa (Chinese) cabbage, romaine, radishes, beets, carrots, bush-type bell peppers (could get any of the colors), bush-type "marble" (varicolored) spicy peppers, roma tomatoes, and grape tomatoes. In the ground frame in front of the containers, just today David put in three hills of yellow zucchini...yes...zucchini. It's a special breed that I haven't been able to find since we left California, but the seed company where I got my seeds had them (though they didn't get to me until early last week).

The other four bins--The first bin here (after the one that is cut off) contains a second increment of Bush Green Beans, plus the first increment of carrots, beets, and radishes. The turquoise bin has the roma tomatoes and the onions, and the last one has the grape tomatoes plus a few third increments of still-unharvested stuff.

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Then pictures from today (June 11)...

Romaine (second increment)

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Peppers (one or the other...not sure which Judi got in this singular shot)

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Cabbage (second increment)

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Grape Tomatoes (there are three cages of them...transplanted from a local nursery)

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Grape Tomato Blossoms

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Beets (second increment)

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Carrots (the only row I have...the first one got washed out...I need to get more seeds)

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Napa Cabbage (first increment)

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Romaine (first increment)

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Bush Green Beans (first increment)

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Roma Tomatoes (there are three cages of them...planted from seed)

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Green Onions (first increment...second increment is in the row right next to them)

I just came in from a short foray to the little garden. I got some fresh pics, and some fresh picks.

I took off a select few of the larger spinach leaves, and did the same with the first crop of romaine. They won't make a FULL salad tomorrow, but like today, I can add them to a salad made with storebought romaine, to fill it out with fresh flavor.

The farmer who gave David those bins promised him some more this year. David needs to give him a call. We probably won't plant any more of them this year, but next year we can add to these. It is so much easier for me to manage them. I can walk all the way around them without the walker, and I love being out there in my bare feet.

It has turned off warmer than they thought it was going to, and I'm sure glad we have the new AC in. It runs so well, and doesn't put the same strain on the breaker that the old one did. It should help keep our electric bill down a bit, too.

Doggone it! I had gone through and picked up all the photos from today, to add, but was uploading a Minecraft video that wasn't quite finished, and this site timed out on the uploads of my photos at the same time. I had commented on each one, and now I need to do it all over again...sigh...well...by the time you read this, it will have BEEN done all over again.

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Bin #1...The solar light is now moved behind me where it WAS, before David planted the squash in the ground-level bed. He stuck it up there out of his way, but then it was in MY way...so out it went. ;-) After snapping this, I carefully trimmed out the larger spinach and romaine leaves to add to tomorrow's lunch salad. After coming inside, I read up about the outer leaves on the napa cabbage plants. It's perfectly OK to do the same thing with them as with the lettuce and spinach, so I'll be harvesting a few of those leaves now and again, as well...always leaving a few to keep surrounding the heads when they begin to set.

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For some reason, I forgot to get a photo of Bin #2. It has the first planting of the root crops, plus the second planting of beans All is doing well in that bin...very pleased! Bin #3...the Romas are doing GREAT. They have grown nearly an inch since yesterday. The green onions are looking fantastic.

Closeup of the still-very-small pepper plants. Both of these are bush varieties. I can hardly wait to see them begin to flower and fruit!

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Bin #5...The grape tomatoes are now emitting the typical tomato plant aroma, and the little tomatoes will soon begin to ripen. So stoked about those! The secondary root crops are doing well (just beets and radishes--no carrots in that bin).

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These are the storebought romaine crowns. The one in the center had been in water for three days before I planted it yesterday. Three had been in water overnight, and the fifth one was fresh yesterday. Every single one of those lettuce plants now has fresh leaves sprouting. I planted a sixth, today, left over from my lunch salad!

We had okra the first year, but I really disliked working with them, so nixed more for the following year. Only like them breaded and fried, anyway - which isn't that healthy. Now we only get okra when we go for Fried Chicken. Talk about unhealthy!! Now I'm hungry for some fried chicken and okra …. (sigh)

We like okra raw, the best, but we do like it fried, as well. What I usually do is cut it while it's fresh, then coat it with the same stuff we use for our fish, which is a light mix, then it gets frozen on a cookie sheet and popped into ziploc bags. Then when I want to use it, I can easily either fry or oven-fry it, which works great, too. Sometimes I cut up some of the fresh stuff and stir fry it along with zucchini, which is really yummy. Any way you can cook it without adding water works pretty well without developing the slime factor. If we get enough this year, I might pickle some, also.